Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

A NIGHT RIDE IN THE FAKE.35

the train of lignes often divided and filed before each other at the crossings of the alleys.

If I were not afraid of wearying the reader, 1 should exhaust all the formulæ of admiration in repeating that I have never seen any thing so extraordinary as this illuminated park, traversed in solemn silence by the carriages of the court, in the midst of a crowd as dense as was that of the peasants in the saloons of the palace a few minutes before.

We rode for about an hour among enchanted groves, and made the tom` of a lake situated at the extremity of the park, and called the lake of Marly. Versailles and all the magical creations of Louis XIV. haunted the imagination of the princes of Europe for more than a hundred years. It was at this lake of Marly that the illuminations appeared to me the most extraordinary. At the extremity of the piece of water, — I was going to say the piece of gold, so luminous and brilliant did it appear, — stands a house which was the residence of Peter the Great, and which was illuminated like the others. The water and the trees added singularly to the effect of the lights. We passed before grottoes, whose radiant interior was seen through a cascade of water falling over the mouth of the brilliant cavern. The imperial palace only was not illuminated, but its white walls became brilliant by the immense masses of light reflected upon them from all parts of the park.

This ride was unquestionably the most interesting

feature in the fete of the empress. But I again

repeat, scenes of magie splendour do not constitute

scenes of gaiety. No one here laughed, sung, or

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